


Lights

by Hisa_Ai



Series: 31 Days of Christmas [23]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: 31 Days of fic, Childhood, Christmas, Christmas prompts, Day 23, Dreams, First Kiss, Fluff, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, Lights, Love, M/M, Prompt Fic, SO FLUFFY, Sappy, Tales, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, Yule, stories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-23
Updated: 2013-12-23
Packaged: 2018-01-05 21:18:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1098690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hisa_Ai/pseuds/Hisa_Ai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A late-night trip through the forest leads to something Arthur's been looking forward to his whole life, which leads to something else he might have been looking forward to for just as long.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lights

* * *

  

" _Mer_ lin, what exactly are we doing out here?" Arthur asked for what felt like the thousandth time, his boots dragging through the deep snow as he followed Merlin through the woods. It was late and snowing and he wasn't one for complaining, but he was  _tired_  as all hell. And yet Merlin had told him that, instead of changing into his nightclothes and climbing into his warm, cozy bed, he was going to need to put a layer or two on and follow him. Where they were going, what they were doing, why they were outside in the freezing cold instead of in the nice, warm castle, he wouldn't tell him. And it was beginning to get on his icy cold  _nerves._

"You'll see." Merlin told him, grinning back over his shoulder for a moment before turning his attention back to the path—not a  _real_  beaten down path, of course. No, that would have been  _too easy_. Merlin was leading him through fresh snow, wet and deep and  _cold_ —they were walking, leading him through the trees as though he actually knew what he was doing and where they were going, even though Arthur was pretty sure he hadn't the slightest clue about either of those things.

He was probably just getting back at him for shoving snow down the back of his shirt during training earlier that afternoon. Arthur wouldn't put it past him to drag him through the forest for a good few hours, offering up a goofy smile and sheepish shrug as explanation when he finally grew bored or cold. But he followed him nonetheless, because there was always the possibility that Merlin actually  _did_  have something he needed Arthur to see, even if it was only a  _small_  possibility.

"Are we almost there at least?"

"Yes, almost. Now stop your whining."

"I'm sorry, who's the prince and who's the servant again?"

"Right," Merlin twisted around, his face just as mocking as his tone. "Stop your whining,  _sire."_

Arthur rolled his eyes as Merlin chuckled lightly at his face, turned back around just in time to avoid walking into a stray branch that Arthur wasn't going to warn him about anyway.

If anyone else had said that to him, if anyone else had pulled him away from the castle for a late-night stroll through the snow for a reason they wouldn't divulge to him, he might have had them thrown in the stocks for a couple of days, but since it was Merlin...

He would only  _consider_  it.

"Can I at least have a  _clue?"_

"Uhm..." he stopped where he was, hands on his hips as he considered the virgin snow in front of them much too seriously, if the set of his shoulders was anything to go by, then let out a wispy breath and continued walking. "Were you ever told those stories as a child?" he asked vaguely.

"Which ones?" Arthur snorted in response.

He had been told  _many_  stories a as child; he had had many nursemaids who often found it quite difficult to keep him in one place for too long before he was able to officially begin his training, so they had used books and stories, legends and tales of far-off lands and the history of the very kingdom he would one day rule, to keep him still and interested for any extended period of time. So he was told  _a lot_  of stories as a child and Merlin was going to have to be more specific.

"The ones about the lights?" he asked, making a gesture with his hands that was obstructed from Arthur's view. "How during any sort of snowfall during the winter months there are these...  _lights_  that appear in the forest around Camelot somewhere?"

"The ones that are told to be spirits of deceased children playing in the snow they never got to enjoy in life, you mean?" Arthur asked, recalling several of those different tales from his childhood.

There were many different variations, many different explanations for a phenomena that few saw anyway, of course—that the druids did it to honor some God or another, that it was just a trick of the eye due to the heavy snow, pink sky, and bright moon, that they were vengeful spirits that lured wayward travelers lost in the woods to their doom, cheerful things of the such—but the most common sort of tale was that the glowing balls of light were the spirits of young children who had been too sick, or otherwise unable to enjoy the snow when they were alive, and now spent all of time enjoying the falling snow, playing in it in their own way, lighting up the sky for other kind souls who happened upon the scene, and just having the fun they were not allowed in life.

Arthur had never seen the lights himself, and once his father found out of the tales he was being told, the particular nursemaid telling them had been sacked, banished from the city for filling Arthur's head with such tales, but he had thought of them often enough as he grew up. Even if he would never admit it.

Wait. Was that what Merlin was doing? Taking him to where the lights, spirits, whatever they were, were rumored to be on nights such as this? How would he even know where to find such a thing when Arthur himself, who had grown up going on patrols and hunts through the very woods they were rumored to be in, had never happened upon such a thing?

"Yeah, those." He nodded, stopping in his tracks to look around once more before continuing forward.

"Of course, yeah; everybody heard those," he rolled his eyes, trying to come off casual.

He had  _dreamed_  of seeing those lights in person. He knew how his father felt about sorcery and these rumored  _lights_ , but he had always heard they were beautiful, and filled whoever viewed them with a sense of peace and acceptance, and undying love, if happened upon with the right person.

Not that he was a girl's petticoat like Merlin and might have actually  _enjoyed_  such a thing, he just... thought it might be interesting to see for himself what he had otherwise only heard people half-drunkingly describe to him and had only seen bleak illustrations of in books.

"Well, I was talking to Gaius about those stories the other night, and, well, he told me where I might find those lights if I go there on a night like this. I figured you'd like to come with, see it in person." he shrugged, his voice suggesting a grin on his face.

"And why would you think that?"

"I dunno, seems like something the future king might want to know. You're going to be ruling this land one day, might be useful to know where things like this happen so you don't make anybody angry. Last thing you need is a vengeful spirit on your royal arse because you sent a patrol through their playground, after all." He chuckled, taking a sudden sharp turn and stopping once more, words lost as Arthur turned his head, taking in a clearing in the middle of the words that Arthur had never stumbled upon before.

It was empty, aside form the virgin snow, the pink sky above them, and the large snowflakes that were rushing down, heavy and cold on Arthur's exposed skin. With a frown, he walked forward, catching Merlin's shoulder under his hand. Maybe he had been wrong to get his hopes up like that, maybe Merlin  _was_  just getting back at him for earlier...

"You hear that?" Merlin asked suddenly, casting a look over his shoulder, Arthur's hand flying to the hilt of his sword as he swung around, searching the forest as intently as he could against the darkness they had left behind them. If he hadn't been so worried about having to protect himself and Merlin from whatever or whoever was out there, he might have wondered how Merlin had managed to get them there without getting them lost or killed already.

Frowning once more as he was met with silence and darkness, he turned back around, meaning to ask if Merlin had hit up the tavern before they left, but his breath caught in his throat before he could manage the question, eyes wide as he caught sight of what had been promised to him.

There, just in the middle of the clearing, were several glowing balls of light, all different colors, all magnificent and breath-taking, moving about almost playfully like the children they were rumored to be. They dipped low to the snow and back to the sky, around the clearing and near the trees, one coming  _so close_  to Arthur and Merlin that he held his breath, wondering what it might do before it was suddenly heading in the other direction, a game of sorts seeming to break out between them.

"Wow." He said at last, taking a fraction of a step forward before Merlin caught him, keeping him firmly at his side without words as they observed the lights for a few moments longer in silence.

"Yeah." Merlin nodded, his fingers intertwining with Arthur's before he turned, somehow ripping his gaze from the lights, and kissed Arthur gently, the lights reflecting in Merlin's eyes the last thing he saw for a while as he lost himself, feeling  _complete_  and a sense of peace he had never quite felt before wash over him as Merlin kissed him, warming his body, his very  _being_ , with his cool lips and careful hands.

Arthur was awe-struck, without many words for the rest of the night, the beauty and the grace of the spirits not lost on him. How his father could ever accuse such a bittersweet, heartbreaking, and beautiful sight of being evil and the result of sorcery and magic was beyond him. He had always dreamed of seeing those damned lights—for a reason that escaped him and all logic, really—and finally seeing them with Merlin, sharing their first kiss in front of them... Made it all the more special.

And the damn fool knew it.

_Of course_  he did.

Arthur didn't know  _how,_  but from the look Merlin gave him when they were back in Arthur's chambers and he was preparing him for bed, his hands more lingering than usual as he pressed soft kisses to his lips between articles of clothing, Arthur knew he  _knew_. He  _knew_  that Arthur had always been curious, always had a longing to see them in person, knew what it meant to him to finally see them with  _Merlin_ , of all people...

Sometimes, it seemed, Merlin knew too much about him, but... It might not have been the worst thing in the world, after all.

 

* * *

 

 


End file.
